|
Post by teethdreams82 on Mar 18, 2014 19:08:04 GMT -5
Alright, this is my first post on The Unified Scene and I just registered tonight. I've been a huge Hold Steady/Lifter Puller fan for years. I've listened to thousands of albums over the years and I'm gonna make a bold statement that many of you may or may not agree with. "Separation Sunday" is easily one of the greatest rock records ever made. Like, at least in the top 2. It's absolutely perfect in such a natural way. It couldn't get any better honestly. The lyrics are Craig's best ever, with the character story lines and all, and I don't think the band has ever been as tight on an album as they are here. The album creates a unique world within itself that I've never heard another album do. It's an underrated masterpiece and it's a shame that many casual fans are only familiar with "Boys And Girls In America". Don't get me wrong, that album is amazing as well. But "Separation Sunday" is on a level that rock albums hardly ever get to, in my opinion. It's an album that I always come back to and has become part of who I am as a person in a way that I can't really describe. I'm sure someone has already created a thread like this, but I just felt like I needed to say this. So go ahead and agree or disagree.
|
|
|
Post by doctoracula on Mar 18, 2014 19:10:38 GMT -5
i am 100% with you. i think it was the best album of the 00s
|
|
|
Post by runandrewrun on Mar 18, 2014 19:44:48 GMT -5
Totally agree. The band has evolved, but they've never been more powerful to me than they were on SS.
|
|
|
Post by mhetrick14 on Mar 18, 2014 21:56:53 GMT -5
there's not a single thing about the album i'd change. it's THAT good.
that being said, it's going to take some time for a historical perspective, but if it gets enough cred in the future like "let it be" (mats), i'll be happy.
|
|
|
Post by muzzleofbees on Mar 19, 2014 2:05:16 GMT -5
Yes. Separation Sunday is a perfect record. To me, it's one of the five or six best albums of all time. Boys And Girls and Almost Killed Me are 10/10 in my book as well, but Separation Sunday is just a little bit sharper. I love it.
|
|
robs
Hoodrat
Posts: 297
|
Post by robs on Mar 19, 2014 3:24:38 GMT -5
Still after many years I get a tingle of excitement anticipating the opening riff of Stevie Nix after the end of Clarlemagne. I try telling my wife about this, she doesn't understand....
|
|
Sunny D
Midnight Hauler
"We've gotta try a little harder..."
Posts: 1,900
|
Post by Sunny D on Mar 19, 2014 4:32:59 GMT -5
I agree.
|
|
stringer
Has Status
Seein' my duty clear.
Posts: 2,702
|
Post by stringer on Mar 19, 2014 6:44:09 GMT -5
200% in agreement. My favourite THS record. Absolutely perfect from the get go. Hornets is one of my favourite riffs of all time. Banging Camp is arguably my favourite THS song. The timing/atmosphere of Don't Let Me Explode is placed perfectly in the album storyline and Crucifixion Cruise is the perfect precursor to Resurrection. I almost went back and filled in something about each of the other tracks, in order. But I'd already used the word perfect a whole bunch of times.
|
|
stringer
Has Status
Seein' my duty clear.
Posts: 2,702
|
Post by stringer on Mar 19, 2014 6:49:02 GMT -5
I get a tingle of excitement anticipating the opening riff of Stevie Nix after the end of Charlemagne. Soooo much. I also get the same from anticipating the drums kicking in at the start of Hornets. BAMbuhBAM
|
|
|
Post by hoodrat on Mar 19, 2014 9:14:31 GMT -5
i am 100% with you. i think it was the best album of the 00s Yup. Since no one seems to want to goof off, why don't we get all serious and dark? When I listen to SS, i like to play an editing game, mentally punctuating the lyrics with quotation marks in different places. The lyrics are really supple that way, more than any other album. So, take a highlighter to Resurrection, marking what you think are Holly's words. There are a couple of spots where it can go either way between the narrator and Holly. If you put the highlighting in the right place on one passage, you can hear the ghost voice of the townie girl that died. If the latest installment is to be believed, the year was 1998, when shepard was crucified. Which, if so, makes Cutters an even better deception. well, crap, there goes everything i was going to get done today.
|
|
|
Post by reallystickyglue on Mar 19, 2014 12:35:52 GMT -5
Separation Sunday is easily my favourite album of all time. Sure, it didn't have the same impact on the world as Sgt. Peppers or Dark Side of the Moon, but it speaks to me in a way that no other album has done. Also, judging from what you boys and girls here at the board are writing, I'm definitely not alone in thinking that. The pace of the album is just perfect, the characters and the lyrics are so unique, the production is phenomenal, and the music is just banging (for lack of a better word). There isn't a single weak song on the album, and they all stand out in their own way, however they work even better together as an album.
The story of the album (which I'm still constantly finding out new things about) is one that easily could be from a really fucking good movie, only that it's told solely through vocals and music, still being able to paint up the world of the characters in such a detailed way. The symbolism used throughout the album isn't in any way cheesy like symbolisms usually are. The parallel between drugs and religion is drawn in a subtle way (atleast for people not familiar with THS), and when you figure out what it means it adds so much more to the music. Just the fact that I'm after about 50 listens am finding/figuring out new things about the characters and the story is something that hasn't happened to me listening to any other album, watching any film or reading any book.
I know that I'm starting to sound pretentious by this point, but when it comes to these kinda things I think it's alright. The closest I've ever come to a religious experience was when I was listening to Separation Sunday in its entirety on my way home from a rowdy night out earlier this year. I'm a mellow drunk, and in the state I was in it just clicked. At "Crucifixion Cruise" I think I just stopped walking, listening, awaiting the grand finale. When I reached "Resurrection", I saw Holly so clearly in my head, getting up on the altar and telling the congregation how a resurrection really feels. God damn, I get chills just thinking about it.
So yeah, I also think Separation Sunday is pretty good.
|
|
|
Post by teethdreams82 on Mar 19, 2014 14:45:37 GMT -5
Nice, I'm glad that you all agree with me so far, although I'm not surprised. Yeah, there are so many different perspectives that can be gathered based on any given persons interpretation of it. I guess that's why it's such a great album. "Banging Camp" is my favorite track on the album and my favorite Hold Steady track in general. That main riff is easy to play, but it sounds so amazing. The lyrics give me chills every time. There are many rock concept albums out there, especially in the Progressive Rock genre, many of which I love as well. But something about "Sep Sunday" is just unbeliveable. It has so many directions that that it can take depending on the listener. I myself have probably listened to the album 200 times in my life and I'm also still learning new things about the characters and the whole storyline. The Hold Steady may as well be called a Progressive Rock band for just this album as the whole complexity of it is enormous.
|
|
|
Post by teethdreams82 on Mar 19, 2014 15:04:42 GMT -5
Also, how many people in here have it on vinyl? I paid $100 for a sealed copy back in 2011. I have played that copy many, many times now and the value has probably gone down on it for that reason. I mean, it still plays great, but I've probably dropped the needle on it at least 50 times now.
|
|
|
Post by doctoracula on Mar 19, 2014 15:20:07 GMT -5
Records are meant to be listened to.
I'm glad I snagged a copy back in mid 2006 before BAGIA came out and they really blew up
|
|
parock
Midnight Hauler
Posts: 1,000
|
Post by parock on Mar 19, 2014 15:34:33 GMT -5
probably a top 3 favorite record ever for me.
even a grand scheme of a concept album it is so singular in some its parts and lyrics. so many great one liners that stand by themselves.
the guitars are extra crunchy. craig is extra yelly.
above all my favorite thing is the song structure. so many songs get bogged down by choruses. THS can even be guilty of that. So many songs on SS don't repeat choruses, it just keeps telling the story. i love a good chorus as much as the next guy but to pull of a whole album where it barely exists is pretty awesome. lyrically speaking. musically I know a bunch follows the verse/chorus/verse/bridge/etc line.
|
|
|
Post by doctoracula on Mar 19, 2014 15:53:31 GMT -5
Yup! And that's why I was kinda bummed when BAGIA came out and was so chorus-heavy. They're great choruses, but I missed the more linear writing style
|
|
|
Post by curvesandnerves on Mar 19, 2014 16:20:34 GMT -5
I genuinely think it's the best record ever written. There is something about Craig's delivery on that album, those awkward, shouty vocals in all the "wrong" places. It lifts those songs, some of which I suppose aren't particularly revolutionary on paper, but all together sound so refreshing. It breaks my heart every time I listen to a new THS song and that style isn't there man. The songs are all still great, but i'm always yearning for those off-kilter shouted parts
I assume that's not coming back though so I'll enjoy them as they are now, and just come back to Separation Sunday as a different entity all together
|
|
|
Post by muzzleofbees on Mar 20, 2014 4:19:41 GMT -5
For the past couple of weeks, I've started a countdown-to-Teeth-Dreams project, aiming to to a write-up of every Lifter Puller/Hold Steady album. I guess most of you guys don't understand norwegian very well, but I've seen a few norwegian and swedish folks here this winter. So to you guys, this is the Separation Sunday text: mstpplrdjs.blogspot.no/2014/03/we-make-our-own-movies-8-hold-steady.html
|
|
|
Post by lukeindetroit on Mar 24, 2014 16:20:25 GMT -5
Separation Sunday is everything a great rock album should be, and my favorite album of all time. I don't think anyone would argue with you Dreams. Lyrically and sonically, to me, Sep sunday is as close as you can get to rock perfection.
|
|